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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Consumer Product Safety Commission says football accounts for just 10 percent of sports-related head injuries

According to research from the Consumer Product Safety Commission, every year athletes in America rack up about 500,000 head related injuries. Football accounts for just ten percent of those injuries, which means 90 percent of sports-related head injuries happen in sports other than football. Taylor Roberts was one of those athletes. While he was warming up for a baseball game in Laurel, MT a ball hit off his teammate’s bat and smacked him in the forehead. Roberts was rushed to a local hospital where he had brain surgery and was in a coma for 3 weeks. “I had to re-learn pretty much everything,” Roberts says. “Speaking, walking, knowing the difference between objects like a fork or a spoon.” More than a decade later, Taylor still gets botox injections for headaches. He’s also on seizure medication and other prescription drugs. The CPSC says cycling accounts for the highest rate of head injuries in sports. Football is next, then baseball and softball. Rounding out the top five: basketball and water sports like diving and polo.